I just thought I would post this because, while I am a year or so into
my home recording adventure, there were some things I struggled with, thought I must be
doing something wrong because of the information posted on the internet and in the end
have personally come to a conclusion that is slightly different. I therefore thought I
would post this and leave it for people way more knowledgeable than myself to comment on
in the hope that it might assist someone that is starting out.

So, first the
information..... Most of what I read was around the lines of "if you can't make a good
sounding mix with your DAW's stock plugins, work on your mixing technique before thinking
plugins will fix things for you".

Now, a bit of a caveat. I have done a fair
amount of live mixing, so I don't have a totally untrained ear. However, I have Logic 9
and with the stock plugins I could not get what I wanted to hear. I however did not have
loads of money to throw at plugins (and am in no way even beginning to advocate this), but
tried a good number of demos, many who were indeed not better than the stock plugins and
have settled on a few additions to my arsenal which I believe have made a substantial
difference and that if I had not done this, I would still be a number of steps behind
where I am now in my development.

My music is mainly singer-songwritery stuff
that I want to be intimate and warm (a hated term I know - maybe just music to give you a
nice hug while speaking in your ear).

So...here is what I bought and my reasons
why:DMG Equality - I found the high end of the Logic equalisers flat and lifeless
and this to me is transparent and has energy.Softube FET Compressor - I could just
not get the transparency of compression I needed in applications like vocals from Logic's
compressors. They always seemed to sound like a compressor was obviously being used. I do
use them for character compressors though.Slate Virtual Console - This was a
revelation and moved the sound I had in my head and had being trying to achieve on by a
leap.Slate Tape Machine - A bit like the Virtual console, but not as big a leap.Ignite Amps PTeq1a - a freebie in a competition where you can donate to the prize.
Excellent for adding low-mid body to a vocal.

So after this long story, if you
believe me to be talking nonsense, just say so. If you are in agreement, how about
recommending a small, not to expensive selection of plugins that may save someone a number
of months working with the stock plugins and not getting what they want.

And
then a personal request, while not on the level of the issues mentioned above, I have
still not got a "wow" sound out of Logic's reverbs. A lowish cost recommendation that will
do that or a pointer to something that I might not have discovered in Logic would be
appreciated.

You're not wrong. Some plug ins are better than 'stock'
versions. And some stock versions are great. It's more about each individual identifying
things that they're not happy with and seeking out an alternative that works for them.
Just as you have done. Otherwise people feel that they have to spend vast sums just to
compete. And that's not true. As you have shown.

There's little doubt in my mind that the best plug-ins don't always come bundled with a
DAW.

However...

The problem some beginners have is that they are
immediately advised to go hunting for the 'magic plug-in' (or a bag-full of 'magic
plug-ins'!) and then end up getting overwhelmed, distracted and confused, believing that
they (or the computer/audio interface/mic, etc) must be at fault, because they have
everything that's been recommended to them, yet still can't produce a 'professional'
result.

I would suggest that third-party plug-ins can be a distraction for
the beginner, and a novice's time might be better spent learning the basics of the craft,
with basic tools, rather than trying to discern a good plug-in from a bad one - something
for which they are, at the outset, ill-equipped. Better that they learn about the tools,
decide what they may not like about the stock versions, then make their own mind up about
alternatives.

With reverb you can either use a convolution plug-in -- in which case the quality of
the results is pretty much dependent on the quality of the impulse responses you load into
it -- or an algorithmic reverb. Logic comes with Space Designer which can load third-party
impulse responses, so perhaps you could look for some more IR libraries for it?

I liked some of the sounds in EastWest's Quantum Leap Spaces, especially the reverb
chamber impulses.

With
reverb you can either use a convolution plug-in -- in which case the quality of the
results is pretty much dependent on the quality of the impulse responses you load into it
-- or an algorithmic reverb. Logic comes with Space Designer which can load third-party
impulse responses, so perhaps you could look for some more IR libraries for it?

I liked some of the sounds in EastWest's Quantum Leap Spaces, especially the reverb
chamber impulses.

+1 on both
of these suggestions: when I first moved to Logic I played around solidly with Space
Designer, also importing 3rd party/free IRs. I find the controls in Space Designer very
good at letting me manipulate the IRs. So I would start there. However, when I finally
bought EWQL Spaces it was a revelation. It just sounds so good and I never have a hard
time finding the right preset to use on almost anything - and it's dead easy to use.

I will have to check out Valhalla though. Can one have too many reverbs?

I have downloaded the demo version of
Valhalla Rooms and it is sounding good. SIR2 seems to have a problem when I try to install
it, so I will need to figure that out. Quantum Leap Spaces appears to be wanting my credit
card details for a demo version. Is this what you experienced or am I getting something
wrong? These sound really good to me on the demos on the website.

Are there any
recommended IRs for Space Designer which are a class above what comes with it? I find
those perfectly functional, but not inspiring. I had downloaded some Bricasti ones a while
back, but to me they seemed nowhere near as three dimensional as the hardware unit which I
had the pleasure of blagging the use of a couple of times, so maybe gave up prematurely on
that route.

I see from the Valhalla site that their Shimmer
plug in advertises 'huge glacial landscapes', which I am very interested in for a
particular track.

Is 'huge glacial landscapes' a particular characteristic of
Valhalla Shimmer, or could I re-create it in the plug-ins I already have, some of which
come with Digital Performer, my DAW :

Within DP :

MOTU ProVerb
(IR)MOTU eVerb (algorhythmic)MOTU Reverb (algorhythmic)

additional
plug-ins :

UAD EMT 140UAD RealVerb-ProLexicon LXP Native Bundle

Or in other words, If I must have 'huge glacial', do I just buy Valhalla Shimmer,
or can I create it with what I already have ? Is it about the particular combination of
parameters, or the reverb itself ?

Thus far, I have generally favoured the
Lexicons, as they just sound 'better' regardless, tho' for some things the EMT 140 is the
better...

And even if it is mostly about the parameter combinations, how else
could I find the right combination ? Buying Shimmer would at least give me an example to
learn from ?

First of all, thank you all for taking the time to offer me reverb recommendations.

I thought I would let you know how I got on and what my ears told me. So, I
downloaded the demo versions of Valhalla Rooms, SIR2 and Quantum Leap Spaces.

First was Valhalla Rooms and my initial thoughts were that it was superior to what I had
been working on in Logic.

SIR2 I felt was of a similar quality Valhalla and I
was feeling I had taken a step forward.

I then did what I always do and in a
case like this and opened an instance of the DAWs plugin (in this case Space Designer) and
started to try and replicate the demo plugins. To my surprise with a severe case of
mangling of the volume envelope in Space Designer as well as the eq, I came very close.
This left me feeling that (a) the standard presets in Space Designer probably need a bit
of work and (b) that I had been able to move forward with what I had.

I then
moved on to Quantum Leap Spaces and to my ears, everything changed. This appears to be the
reverb equivalent of a point and shoot camera, with the reverbs being considerably more
natural sounding and three dimensional than the other three. I found I could actually use
more reverb without feeling that it was starting to overwhelm the recording. While I will
play a bit more, I believe this is where my pennies will vote.

There is
obviously the point that people more experienced than myself will almost surely be able to
coax better results from Space Designer, Valhalla Rooms and SIR2, but for me and where I
am in my development, to be able to get great sounding reverb from a preset and four
controls quickly was excellent. I also suspect this may work for the professional with
deadline constraints.

So thank you all once again and going back to the
original topic, for me with the addition of a few plugins: DMG Equality, Slate Virtual
Console, Slate Virtual Tape Machine, Softube FET Compressor, Ignite Amps PTeq1a and now
East West Quantum Leap Rooms, I feel I am actually in a position to start realising what I
hear in my head.

Off to go and develop my tracking techniques some more so that
I can exploit these.